Lady Bird

While watching Lady Bird I wrestled with my opinion yet came to see the tension as intentional rather than accidental. Scenes felt quick and snappy, which made it an engaging watch, but the extremity of her actions took away from her likability. However, I don’t know if we are supposed to love her as a character. She is clearly flawed and searching for identity, but this is simultaneously a deeply human experience that would be unfair to judge. I believe she confuses leaving with being her own person, as if it is impossible to be her own in her hometown. Often it feels like she never really is her own as she clings to foreign ideas even if only temporarily. The fragmented scenes and hazy camera complement the instability and spin what originally were negatives on her character into intentional literary elements that emphasize her ambiguity and identity shifts. The ambiguity becomes especially clear from her relationship with the Catholic church, which mirrors her relationship with her mother. When the girls are interrupted by a comment of “you’re not supposed to eat the wafers” and they respond with “they are not consecrated”, she demonstrated a strange understanding of Catholicism and that what she is doing is not technically disrespectful yet still gives off undertones of defiance. She understands the rules well enough to navigate them without fully succumbing to them. While conflict with her mother tends to escalate quickly, it is padded with love expressed through authority instead of cruelty. This leaves me with the final question of does Christine return to the church because she truly believes or because it has the familiarity of her emotional structure with her mother?